A Week in My Life as a Digital Entrepreneur and Marketer
We all know there’s a lot of hype and a lot of exaggeration in the world of entrepreneurism and marketing.
I wanted to show what a REAL week in my life – the life of a 100% digital entrepreneur, no other income sources – looked like. I have a husband and 2 kids. This is how I provide for my family. It’s all I do. I don’t consult and I don’t work for anyone else, ever. My business runs on the content I create, the innovations I imagine, the ability to keep pace with the market and adjust, quickly.
It’s really, really hard sometimes. It’s not something you can do long term if you don’t love it. And it’s incredibly rewarding, if you are someone who’s wired to motivate themselves and push harder without external prodding.
There are moments where I get to do incredible things, like hiring a helicopter for a launch video because I thought it would be funny (it was!) and having the freedom to take my kids out of school to go to Disneyland (because when school is in, there’s no lines at Disneyland!) because I don’t need to ask for vacation time. It’s the best feeling in the world.
And it’s not all that. I wouldn’t trade my life for another and I have more than I ever dreamed of. But there are stumbling blocks along the way too, and days – or weeks – where it’s just the same old, same old. That’s OK. The rewards are so worth it. For me, even the most boring or frustrating or scary or depressing times as an entrepreneur are 1,000 times better than the best times at a real job.
I talked a lot in the video about my work in the Renegade Startup. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can watch the pre-launch videos here and see if it’s a match for you.
I do have VA’s, programmers, etc., but they are all virtual, so most of my day-to-day work is done solo, me in my home office – and I like it that way. I hope this showed you a more realistic side of the solopreneur’s life!
Was it an eye opener for you? Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you so much for this video. It’s refreshing to know that you have similar problems and challenges to what I face regularly. I also learned the importance of VA’s. Till now, I’ve hired people to do specialised work and I’m thinking that now I need to hire someone to organise all of these people. So that was a nice insight too.
Your down to earth style has made what I knew before seep through and feel normal as opposed to feeling that only the huge perfect tycoon entrepreneurs do it. I dont know if I’ve communicated that properly… But basically the info made previous concepts more accebile.
Michelle,
Your knowledge and information that you share about being and an entrepreneur and making money online is awesome I always get the best and the real information from your content I am a member of the renegade start up and of course your other teaching sites.
I really want to share my knowledge with others and I have found that your teachings enable me to reach more people and share information that others are seeking and in the process make some money doing it.
Your style and heart is refreshing. I don’t mind putting in the work and giving real and valuable information on my websites. That is really why I wanted to participate in the Internet world.
Take care and keep on share the good stuff… LOL
Rod
Great time management Michelle. Love how you demonstrated the challenges for a Mother working from home. As someone who helps clients retain virtual assistants – we have 700 VAs in Australia, I suggest an exercise for people to do to help them decided what to outsource. Just record what you are spending your time on for a week, at the end of the week start with the things that take up most of your time and decide whether you can outsource this. You should also identify the 3 most important things that you need to do in your business and commit to spending a least an hour on these every day.
your makeup looks fabulous
LOL – I love that was your take away from all this. LOL
Interesting that there is always 1 person that comments on her makeup after her posts. Not sure if its because when we first met Michelle, she was in the country and did not wear much makeup, or because those people are not interested in what she has to say, but just trying to get attention!
@Charlene – I’ve always worn makeup, and all in all, I think the comment are distracting.
Absolutely!
Hi Michelle, Awesome video showing us how busy you really are working as a digital entrepreneur. And, I have a few comments to make about this video. The first thing is how open and transparent you are by shooting a week long video series detailing your business and daily work load. A lot of people would not be comfortable or willing to show their vulnerabilities and video log a week of their business behind the scene. It’s the revealing and “down to Earth” style you project that a lot of people like about you, and you show it here. Your week long video series also illustrates how your time is divided into productive mode, and consumption mode. It’s very easy to get lost in the consumption of information, people, ideas, techniques, and the list goes on. And, in your video log, you make that distinction that you need to take care of business first thing in the morning, and “admin” as the day goes on. I can see why being a digital entrepreneur isn’t for everyone because most people fail at prioritizing things that need to be done. Also, the sheer amount of information to take in usually is just noise, but you may not know it immediately. So, you have to consume, but balance it with work… Thanks Michelle, I really enjoy the whole video, a lot to take in, but informative and insightful.
Hey Michelle, I loved spending a week with you there, it’s a shame it only lasted 34mins
– I’m a bit gutted now I didn’t join your renegade program when it was just $20/mo. Ah well. I’ve been a fan of you since I heard you talk about Badder Adder in your seminar with Howie/Dr Mike in 2006 (That was just a teleseminar, so I didn’t even realize how lovely you look too).
But yes, all good and good to know the strange amount of hours I spend in my garden shed (working) are not as weird as all my friends think!
BTW, I know BMR took a bad hit with Penguin and my main $ite did too – so do you think anyone has got their site back properly? I’m building a new site and moving the ‘penguin hit’ posts/pages over to the new site, but DE-SEOED – so far this is showing positive results in both sites, the penalized one still enjoying page 1 rankings for the more long tail KWs.
Take Care Michelle
R
HI Michelle,
You know I’ve been behind you for years and sent everyone I know your way. Maybe you can help me clarify something , using our favorite quotemaster!
CHARLIE SHEEN!
Sheen advises others to “stick to what you know.” Referring to his disastrous “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option” tour in spring 2011, he got laughs from the group when he said, “Don’t go on the road with a one-man show in 21 cities without an act.” http://www.catholic.org/ae/tv/review
The missing ingredient of MMOL is the sticking to your knitting advice. Your first video was a bit of an aha moment. The enthusiasm you showed regarding the Marketing aspects was very evident. You are a top flight writer, but your passion is very very obviously in marketing. Marketing is numbers and systems.
My passion is direct response copywriting. Yeah, the gunslinger. I tried the MMOL but it ate up too much vital energy.
I guess I’m hoping that someone online will give the folks a strainer. And I think that you are that person.
Could we have a simple checklist to strain and direct people? The tech world and the internet hold many opportunities. Michelle, I think you are a good person to direct people away and toward those things.
Always behind ya…..
Wow. There’s so many worthwhile ideas in that video I’m going to have to watch it again a time or two. You really must be good at avoiding “rabbit holes” to get that much done. Sometimes I think I live in one of those holes. This type of business requires a constant effort to manage delegation, routine processes and new development.
BTW, I’ve heard your voice before, but not seen you. You’re very photogenic. You might want to get a little better lighting, though. You were kind of in the dark toward the end.
Thanks for doing this, Michelle.
@Wade – It wasn’t meant to be a high quality production, just a quick vid as I go about my day. No need to bring out the lighting for that.
Hi, MIchelle
The expression you were searching for is “in the can”, as in film can.
Great video, thanks. I think your comments on delegation apply to everyone, not just net entrepreneurs. Any thoughts on how to go about finding the right VA? Does it make sense to have them in different geographies to lower risk (ie flood issues in the Philippines)?
@Alejandro – I have VA’s take an English test, jump though a few hoops (i.e. replying to questions via email, to ensure they are prompt), do a video interview (more to see that they are comfortable with me and English and that they have an OK internet connection, and I have them do a test job. Oh, and a personality test. I prefer the Philippines because their English is good and they understand American culture.
Michelle,
Thank you for taking the time to share your life with us. What an encouragement! Loved how you checked your email from bed on your phone (I thought I was the only one who did that . .LOL). While you expressed concern about this really not being typical because of the weird things that happened like a flood in the Phillipines, isn’t that part of the joy of this business . . the unpredictability and need for constant problem solving. It rarely gets boring – at least not while Google is around . . .LOL
Particularly liked that you did your content development in the morning. That’s a great idea to get it out of the way. I get frustrated when I spend the whole day working and don’t get to the content part. I’m going to change that habit and start doing it first (after email of course).
Keep up the great work!
Theresa
P.S. loved that you included your cats
@Theresa – Thank you! I don’t think I had a choice re: the cats, they included themselves, LOL!
I enjoyed watching the video. Many of the things you do, I do with my business. One question I have is how does your husband support you with your business? Do you try not to work on the weekends?
Thanks.
Kristina
@Kristine – Great questions!
My husband supports with the biz by doing all the stuff that a stay-at-home parent would typically do – so he’s the one who picks up the kids from school, gets them ready in the morning, makes dinner, does the laundry, vacuums, etc. In that way, we’ve reversed traditional roles. I’d never be able to do what I do if I was also doing all of the domestics.
I’m privileged to have a spouse who is open minded enough take on those tasks. I know many men wouldn’t. Which is silly. Who does the dishes isn’t a true measure of one’s manhood. Anywho….
I sorts of try not to work on the weekends. Like I don’t want to sit down all day and work. But I don’t mind (nor does the family mind) if we’re all just kinda hanging out, doing our own thing, and I check in for a little bit.
Great Video , alot more realistic than the I sit on the beach click a button and earn millions videos.
Always been impressed by your work and realism.
by the way love the author box and related posts box at the bottom of the posts ! which plugins are these please ? Thanks
Those are built in features of this theme, not plugins. Thx for watching!
Wow thanks for let us into a day and the life of Internet Marketing Queen Michelle MacPhearson! Really enjoyed it and picked up a couple of business management pointers, hope to see another soon, thanks and may God Bless you and you’re family!